Clean Energy States Alliance Welcomes New Project Director

May 1, 2012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Director to Focus on Federal-State Initiatives and New Member Outreach

MONTPELIER, VT – Today, Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) announced the hiring of Todd Olinsky-Paul as a new Project Director for the organization. Todd is a clean energy policy specialist with extensive experience in the areas of renewable energy and distributed generation.

Todd joins CESA from the Pace Energy and Climate Center, where he served as the Manager of Communications, Education, and Outreach, as well as an Energy Policy Analyst. Todd’s recent work in these areas has focused on generation siting issues, grid interactions, financing and policy incentives, and emerging science. He has authored numerous reports for state and federal agencies on such topics as expanded deployment of grid-connected distributed generation, wind energy zoning, siting and environmental impacts, community wind energy, combined heat and power (CHP) for critical infrastructure resiliency, CHP market opportunities and regulatory issues, small-scale biomass project siting, environmental monitoring, evaluation, and protection, and the environmental impacts of biofuels.

As Project Director for CESA, Todd will assist with member services and new member outreach efforts, along with communication efforts for members and external stakeholders. He will also assist on the Energy Storage and Technology Advancement Partnership (ESTAP) project, a federal-state funding and information sharing project that aims to accelerate the deployment of electrical energy storage technologies in the U.S. The project’s overall purpose is to create a new federal-state partnership focused on electrical energy storage technologies with joint funding and coordination to accelerate energy storage technology commercialization and deployment.

"We are thrilled to announce the addition of Todd Olinsky-Paul to the Clean Energy States Alliance team. The breadth of Todd's experience and expertise will advance both CESA's member services and ongoing work to support the next generation of emerging clean energy finance and technology," said Mark Sinclair, Executive Director of Clean Energy States Alliance. "We look forward to introducing him to our members and partners in the coming weeks, as well as at CESA's Spring Meeting in Portland."

Todd has a Master of Science in Environmental Policy from Bard College and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.